The State’s public debt is mounting with each person of the total 8.5 crore population carrying debt of Rs. 18,106 on their head by the end of 2012-13.
The total public debt, dominated by open market borrowings, has crossed Rs. 1.53 lakh crore in 2012-13 and the figure could be much higher once the estimates of the current fiscal come out. The Government made provision for borrowing Rs. 25,000 crore in the current fiscal while it has kept a cushion for another Rs. 27,730 crore for the next fiscal in the Vote-on-account Budget.
The Government had projected the requirement of Rs. 26,339 crore for capital and loan accounts for the next year and the interest payment alone was estimated at Rs. 16,787 crore, amounting to close to 10 per cent of the budget size. A provision has been made for an additional Rs. 8,115 crore towards loan repayment. Finance Department officials, however, said the public debt outstanding at 20.45 per cent of the GSDP was well within the 35 per cent limit prescribed by the Finance Commission and Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said the State’s performance had been consistent over the past few years when the per capita income had been steadily on the rise. From Rs. 25,321 in 2004-05, the per capita income increased to Rs. 78,564 in 2012-13 and is estimated to reach Rs. 89,200 in 2013-14. This was against the national average of Rs. 74,920. The fiscal discipline measures adopted by the State Government ensured that the Planning Commission approved plan expenditure of Rs. 3.47 lakh crore during the XII Plan period, the highest for any State in the country.
The Government’s efforts in balancing welfare and development were reflected in significant decline in the poverty levels.The people living under the poverty line had dropped by more than 20 percentage points during the 10-year period from 29.9 per cent in 2004-05 to 9.2 per cent in 2011-12.
